A Christian in Jharkhand state, India succumbed, in late January, to illnesses incurred when villagers immersed him and his wife in freezing water because they refused to deny Christ.
‘The villagers kept asking my father if he is ready to forsake Christ. He reiterated every time, ‘I will not deny Christ … I will continue to believe till my last breath,’ said Urawn’s son. Previous to the torture, villagers had forced Urawn to attend their worship, in which they sacrificed an animal, his son said. They forced a portion of the sacrifice down his throat and made him drink fermented liquor, he said.
Some have turned back
Nine other families also had decided to follow Christ when Urawn did so ten years ago, but after the same daily ostracism, discrimination, threats and persecution, seven families returned to their ancestral religion.